


Change of Heart

by plantegg



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Bad Pick-Up Lines, Cecil is Inhuman, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-09
Updated: 2014-02-09
Packaged: 2018-01-11 16:48:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1175454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plantegg/pseuds/plantegg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil likes to use bad pick up lines. Carlos is less than amused, but it grows on him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Change of Heart

When he’d first met Cecil, Carlos didn’t hear much of his voice. All he had heard was a brief, unintelligible murmur that sounded like “beautiful”, before Cecil had chosen to give up all attempts at communication in exchange for staring at Carlos’s hair and breathing heavily. However, since then, Cecil had rarely stopped talking about all manner of things at the most inappropriate of times. Even now, when he was kissing his way up Carlos’s neck, he was still blathering on about something, now that Carlos had started paying attention, completely unrelated to anything at all.

“That shirt… Is very becoming on you…” Cecil breathed in between nibbles on Carlos’s ear.

“Huh?” Came Carlos’s brilliant reply. Cecil’s sudden changes of topic could confuse him at even the best of times, and the lack of blood in his head at this moment coupled with this particularly odd bit of dialogue was leaving him completely baffled.

“Of course… If I was on you… I’d be coming too.” Cecil chuckled softly. Carlos stared at him, completely horrified, as those chuckles turned into guffaws and Cecil fell to his knees and rolled across the floor of the lab, clutching his stomach.

Carlos lost his boner so fast he felt dizzy.

 

Afterglow is very literal for Cecil.

When the lights are off, he emits a faint glow, similar to that of a lantern. Carlos isn’t sure if this is just Cecil, or if all the residents of Night Vale are like this, possibly due to prolonged exposure to the glow cloud. He’ll have to test it someday, but for now, he’s happy to just lie with Cecil. Cecil’s eye meets his, the other two follow suit, and he smiles softly, cupping Carlos’s face in one hand. Carlos smiles back, and shuffles closer to him.

“Did you receive the scarlet envelope of the boy scouts?”  
Cecil murmurs the statement softly, as if it were a totally normal thing to say after sex. Carlos is slightly more used to Cecil’s random statements than he was when they first got together, but at times like this he still feels confused. He’ll indulge Cecil by continuing the conversation anyway.

“Not that I know of… Why?”

“Because… You’ve tied my heart in knots.”

Carlos is out of the bed before Cecil can even start giggling. He offers him a brief glare before storming out to his car, fuming and naked.

 

It had been a year since their first date. Cecil, being the romantic that he was, demanded that they celebrate their anniversary at Gino’s Italian Dining Experience And Grill And Bar. And, due to the continuing wheat and wheat by products ban, they were going to eat their same meal of a bloody Portobello mushroom.

Or at least, that had been the plan, before the entire restaurant had been filled with writhing, hissing hooded figures.

According to Cecil, the owner’s howling in a language lost to mankind centuries ago meant that the hooded figures were having a conference and all attempts to make them move had been fruitless, and that he and Cecil would just have to make do with the single seat that was left.

Carlos knew what was about to happen as soon as Cecil sat down. He’d become able to recognize the signs, the slow grin spreading over his face and the catlike gleam in his eyes meaning that something awful was about to happen

“Don’t you da-“

“Hey, Carlos,” Cecil interrupted, “You can sit on my lap, and we’ll talk about the first thing that pops up.”

Cecil’s laughter at his joke was quickly cut off by Carlos, who had a perfect rebuttal on his mind and a grin that could only be described as evil on his face.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve never been one for small talk.”

Cecil stopped mid-laugh, his mouth hanging open. The restaurant was silent apart from a low “Ooooh” from the Hooded Figures.

Cecil’s lower lip trembled, his eyes wet with tears.

“I- You- But-“

Carlos leaned in and kissed his boyfriend on the nose, unable to keep a smile off his face. “Don’t worry, darling, I was just teasing you. Now, why don’t we go home, if there’s no room here? I’ll cook us dinner instead.”

Cecil’s eyes lit up. “Wheat-free linguine?”

Carlos rolled his eyes affectionately. He wasn’t sure where Cecil’s obsession with pasta came from, but it was as adorable as it was strange, like most things about him. “Of course.”

Cecil leapt into his arms and hugged him tightly. The restaurant exploded in cheers, or hideous and joyful shrieking in the case of the hooded figures.

“You’re the best boyfriend ever!”

“I am.” Carlos agreed, grabbing Cecil by the hand and pulling him out of the restaurant.

Of course Cecil would wear a dress to their wedding. Of course Hiram McDaniels’s second head to the left would be their minister. And of course Cecil would carry him across the threshold of their house, despite the facts that firstly, Carlos was a head taller than him, and secondly, they’d been living in their house together for almost three years. It was Cecil, after all.

“Cecil, this is a terrible idea,” Carlos laughed, “If you’re the bride in this situation, then shouldn’t I be carrying you?”

Cecil kicked open the door to their bedroom, and dumped Carlos on their bed. “Of course not! Not when your legs are so tired!”

Deep down, Carlos knew what was coming but he responded nonetheless. “And why are my legs tired?”

“Because you’ve been running through my mind all day!”

Carlos groaned and pulled Cecil down to him. “I can’t believe I married you.”

“You love it.” Cecil replied, giving Carlos a quick kiss before bursting into radiant laughter.

Yes, Carlos thought, looking at his husband, I do.

 

Cecil laced his fingers through Carlos’s. His husband smiled up at him weakly, and coughed.

Nobody knew what he was. Carlos had tested him in every way he knew, but said he couldn’t understand any of the results. All he could tell was that it was probably connected to his job at the station, and the strange flickering from when he was a teenager that he’d had nightmares about for weeks after he found the tapes, nightmares only Carlos could soothe.

Those nightmares had torn at his mind, left him gasping and crying and retching and shaking for hours, but none of them could be as awful as what was happening here, right in front of him.

Carlos was dying.

He looked the same as he had when he’d arrived in Night Vale, but he’d been getting weaker and weaker as time passed. Cecil had seen this before, known deep in his bones that Carlos wouldn’t live forever, but had always hoped that he’d somehow be an exception.

That was one thing that was true both inside and out of Night Vale. Hope rarely amounted to anything more than broken dreams.

Carlos coughed again, and Cecil could tell their time was running out. Why did they have to end like this?

Cecil didn't realise he'd said that out loud until Carlos hacked out a broken laugh. He gently reached up and stroked Cecil's face.

"Because baby," he choked out, "You take my breath away."

Cecil didn't react at first, but soon began to giggle, and dissolved into a choking mixture of tears and laughter. Carlos joined in weakly.  
"I can't believe those are going to be your last words." Cecil laughed through the tears in his eyes.

"I don't know why... You'd be surprised. It's us, after all."  
He dissolved into a heavy fit of coughing, grasping Cecil's hand tightly. Cecil pulled him closer and kissed him hard, knowing there wasn’t much time left.

"I love you."

"I love you."

There was silence.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry.  
> (i've never written fanfiction before and i was too awkward to ask anyone to beta this for me so it's probably complete and utter shit also im sorry i killed carlos i dont even know anymore im really very sorry)  
> (by the way my writing tumblr is ashleystymests in case anyone cares bye)  
> (also i came up with the linguine thing before orange grove came out this has been the children's fun fact science corner thank you and goodnight)


End file.
